In an extraordinary convergence of art, faith, and human tragedy, the portrait of a homeless German man has found its spiritual home at the Vatican, completing a profound narrative that began with a chance encounter on Roman streets.
German artist Michael Triegel first met Burkhard Scheffler in 2018 outside a Roman church, immediately recognizing the homeless man’s striking features as ideal for depicting Saint Peter. Unbeknownst to Triegel, this artistic decision would later intertwine with Scheffler’s tragic death from exposure in St. Peter’s Square in November 2022—an event that captured Pope Francis’s personal attention.
The artistic journey continued in Germany where Triegel, a Catholic convert, had won a prestigious commission from Naumburg’s Protestant cathedral to create a new central altar panel complementing surviving Renaissance works by Lucas Cranach the Elder. His painting incorporated Scheffler as Saint Peter among other contemporary figures—a rabbi as Saint Paul, the artist’s daughter as Mary, and anti-Nazi theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Following UNESCO-related disputes about the altar’s placement in Germany, the artwork was loaned to the Vatican’s Teutonic College chapel. There, in a remarkable moment of recognition, Vatican art experts identified the painted Saint Peter as the deceased Scheffler, whose grave lies mere steps away in the Teutonic cemetery—a burial place arranged by Pope Francis himself.
The altar now resides temporarily near Scheffler’s resting place, creating what Monsignor Peter Klasvogt calls ‘a wonderful outcome’ that honors the man’s memory through art and prayer. For Triegel, the coincidental reunion validates his artistic mission: creating religious figures that feel authentically connected to contemporary humanity rather than idealized archetypes.